Change
by BobaAddict
Summary: She couldn't believe how time passed by so quickly. Just a day before, she was a loyal first mate on Captain Gutt's crew. Now, she found happiness in a new home and a new family she had originally helped capture on the high seas. One-shot, with a nice amount of Diego/Shira.


**Now I feel a need to start writing in another certain fandom. And since I got high off of Ice Age: Continental Drift on Friday… You get the idea. I don't have a lot of ideas for now, so I think I'll just start off with a little one-shot.**

**Disclaimer: So dear disclaimer, you stalked me in Shugo Chara, and now you're stalking me in Ice Age? Real nice. Reeeeeaaaaal nice.**

All the animals were settling into their new home, from Ellie, Peaches, and the possum brothers trying to find a nice sturdy branch to hang from to Granny finding nice, juicy mangoes to chomp on with her new chompers. Everyone was busy, except for a certain white saber-toothed tigress, who had isolated herself nearby, surrounded by a few trees.

Shira sighed. She couldn't believe how time passed by so quickly. Just a day before, she was a loyal first mate on Captain Gutt's crew. Now, she found happiness in a new home and a new family she had originally helped capture on the high seas.

Another tiger's voice broke her train of thought. "You okay?"

Shira turned to find Diego's piercing green eyes staring straight into her sapphire ones. "I'm fine."

Diego was not to be fooled. "Are you still thinking about the lousy monkey?"

"No."

Diego gave her a long stare. Shira mentally noted to herself to never attempt to lie to the male feline.

"Okay, maybe I am," she admitted. "But it's nothing too important. After all, a lot has changed. It's not everyday I meet an unhygienic sloth, his granny, a fat mammoth, and a saber who's just a big softie." Shira smirked at the last part.

"Uh, Manny prefers to be called 'poofy' instead of fat, and – Wait a second, did you just call me a softie?"

"I thought we settled that when I was still stuck in that tree, softie."

"And I thought I informed you that I am a remorseless assassin."

"_And_ I thought that the sloth came over and gave you a very pretty coral necklace."

"I didn't want that thing, and you know it."

"You kept on wearing it until I pointed it out."

Diego groaned in defeat. "Fine. You win. I'm a little soft. Happy now?" he grumbled.

"Not really... You're not just a little soft. You're very soft."

"You're lucky you're you, 'cause if it was anybody else who just said that, they're asking for death."

"And exactly what makes me so special above all the others? No sexist excuses."

Diego's ears drooped down. Shira couldn't help but think that he looked absolutely adorable like that. "Uh... No reason?"

Now it was Shira's turn to glare the truth out of him.

"Okay, okay! M-Maybe it's because...uh... This is hard."

Shira was enjoying this. She had a pretty good hunch on what his reason was, but she just loved seeing him all frazzled like this.

Wolf whistles came from the tree above them.

"Yeah, good choice on the female, Diego!"

"Way to go, dude!"

The sabers turned their attention to the tree branch hanging above them. Shira had a look of amusement, while Diego looked like he was contemplating on whether to hurl Crash and Eddie off of a nearby cliff, or to run off the cliff himself just to spare himself the embarrassment.

Eddie was first to notice the glower Diego was giving them. "Bro, stop laughing!"

Crash gradually ceased his laughter to a nervous chuckle. "Oh hey, tiger, we were just dropping by and we just noticed you with the new girl, and it's not like we thought you guys were going out or anything..."

Shira grew even more amused, and Diego finally made the decision to have the possums be the ones to be thrown off the rocky ledge. He grabbed the conveniently low branch, pulled it backwards with a nice amount of force, and let it go, with the possums flying off toward the water. And for some idiotic reason, the two of them were actually arguing while in the air.

"THIS WAS YOUR FAULT! NOW WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

"ME? YOU WERE IN THIS AS MUCH AS I WAS!"

"WELL AT LEAST I STOPPED LAUGHING WITHOUT HAVING ANYONE TELL ME TO!"

The extremely entertained Shira snickered. "They're still fighting even when they're about to land in the sea? I'm not surprised they haven't gotten killed yet by you or Manny."

"Nothing can kill those two. Besides, Ellie wouldn't let us." A distant splash was heard.

"How does she manage to put up with them anyway?"

"I don't know. Something that came along with her adoption, I guess." Secretly, Diego was relieved that the possums' antics had distracted Shira from their previous conversation. Not that he was actually going to go thank them for it, knowing perfectly well that they might just go and remind the white saber. And he couldn't really do anything that would risk his dignity (which was already severely damaged by Shira's teasing).

"I see. So about my question..."

Diego's relief washed away. "What question?" he asked, strongly hoping that it wasn't the question that had made him uncomfortable (Although that was a very slim chance).

"Don't play dumb. I'm talking about our conversation right before those two idiots interrupted it."

Never mind that stuff about Shira being distracted.

"So are you going to tell me or not?"

Diego couldn't find the right words to say. "..."

"It's because he _loves_ you. Heehee!"

The male saber dashed toward the bushes, where Sid was already running from. And for once, the sloth was actually laughing while running from the angry predator, who gave chase. Just how long was he eavesdropping?

Shira stared in their direction for a minute or two, before merely shrugging the incident off and resuming her quiet thoughts. But of course, not long after, she was interrupted again.

"Hey Shira, you know why Diego is slamming Sid into a hole in the ground?"

Shira decided not to give the mammoth the details. "It's kind of a long story."

Manny immediately understood. "So what are you doing, sitting out here like this? Don't you want to go and know the rest of the herd better?"

"Not that I don't like it here or anything, it's just that...this is sudden change for me."

"Oh. Trust me, as the weirdest herd in history, we've all been there. I'm pretty sure Diego can relate to you the most."

"What do you mean?"

"To be honest, Diego didn't exactly like us when we first met. He was secretly planning to kill me and Sid - especially me - along with his pack. I'm not exactly sure what made him change his mind, but he ended up turning on the other sabers and saved us."

Shira smirked. Now she had another piece of evidence on why Diego was soft. She reminded herself to rub it in his face later.

Suddenly, a distant bloodcurdling scream was heard. Shira stood up, alert. Manny waves his trunk signaling that it was a false alarm.

"That was just Sid. Diego bit him on the leg."

"How do you know?"

"Simple. If you hear 'AAAAAAHHH!' then it's Sid having his leg bitten. If you hear 'AAAAAAHHH!' then it's Sid about to have his head torn off. If you hear 'AAAAAAHHH!' then it's Sid being chased by rhinos. If you hear 'AAAAAAHHH!' then it's Sid about to drown. If you hear 'AAAAAAHHH!' then it's Sid being taken away by a dinosaur. If you hear 'AAAAAAHHH!' then it's Sid being chased by two or more sabers, unless if it's you or Diego. If you hear 'AAAAAAHHH!' then it's Sid being whacked on the head by me."

Shira, who had started only pretending to be paying attention around the third 'AAAAAAHHH,' was glad that Manny was done, not that she showed it. Though to her, all the 'AAAAAAHHH's had sounded the same, she felt the desire to change the subject, replying only with a terse "That's nice."

"Mhm. So what's with the relationship between you and Diego?"

On second thought, maybe it was better to just stay on the 'AAAAAAHHH' subject, as ridiculous as it was. "There's nothing."

"You don't have to worry, I was in denial too, except with Ellie. You'll grow out of it."

Shira was taken aback by the sudden teasing mood from Manny. She expected Sid to say that, but Manny? It just didn't seem possible from the usually moody mammoth.

"I'm not in denial. It's the truth, and it always will be."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that. I saw the way you two looked at each other when you asked if you could join the herd. You're not the only one though. Diego tried to cover it up as well."

Somehow, the teasing was a lot more funny when Diego was here to be the victim of most of it. But luckily, unlike Sid and the possums, Manny knew where to stop. "So do you want to go back, or do you want to stay here for a little longer?"

Shira shook her head. "Nah, I'm fine now. Let's go."

When she and Manny went back to the others, Shira couldn't help smiling a genuine smile. Unlike Gutt and his crew, these animals actually cared for each other. As she, Sid (who was still slightly dazed from Diego's harassment), and a few others watched the possum brothers (who had somehow managed to get back to the shore without being rescued) try to wring themselves dry of ocean water while complaining to Ellie about what Diego did to them (The latter was just scratching his claws on a tree pretending that he couldn't hear), she concluded that it may be true that a lot had changed in a short amount of time, but this time, it was change for the better.

**...This was improvised. Completely improvised. But then again, I improvise all my stories. So a nice amount of Diego/Shira, a little friendship between Manny and Shira, and a dash of humor from Sid and the opossums. Speaking of that word, which do you think is better to use: opossum or just possum?**

**One more thing: I'm sorry if any of the characters seem out of character, since this is my very first time writing Ice Age, and I had no practice whatsoever.**

**Review!**


End file.
